Saint John Snaps Skid in Bathurst

BATHURST, NB - Sunday's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action saw the Saint John Sea Dogs take a 4-2 contest against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in front of 1,081 fans at the KC Irving Regional Centre.

Ryan Tesink had a hat-trick to power the Sea Dogs to the win and Jonathan Huberdeau notched two assists to tie the all-time mark of 143 set by Michael Kirkpatrick. Jakub Izacky added a single for Saint John and Jason Seed added two assists for the night. David Weckworth's assist was his first point as a Sea Dog. Sebastien Auger stopped 28 of 30 for the victory, giving the Sea Dogs a record of 11-12-0-0.

Brandon Hynes and Christophe Lalancette replied for Acadie-Bathurst with Jacob Brennan making 29 saves while facing 32 shots in the loss. The Titan now sit at 9-13-4-0.

Huberdeau started things off with a quick shot just wide after intercepting the puck deep in the Titan zone less than a minute into the game.

Auger made a great pad save on Titan forward Zach O'Brien, fighting through a screen in front to get his left leg extended to make the stop.

Brandon Hynes fired a shot that used a couple of bumpers to beat Auger and strike first for the Titan. The shot pinballed through the Saint John defence, crossing the line at 4:54 of the first.

Auger stuck out his right leg to rob Patrick Zdrahal as he shot from the right post over to get the pad out for the save on the streaking Czech. Auger made a flurry of saves to finish the period and keep the score 1-0 at the end of the first.

The Sea Dogs came out with a great chance early as Noah Zilbert made a great tap pass to Aidan Kelly. Kelly cut down the left wing side and fed Jason Cameron out front for a great chance, but Brennan stood tall.

Heading the other way, the Titan extended their lead to 2-0 on another scramble play in front as Lalancette poked it underneath and through Auger at 1:32 of the second.

Tesink and Huberdeau had a great chance on a 2-on-1, but the Titan defenceman got his stick on Tesink to stop the scoring chance.

Auger robbed Adam Zboril using his quick up-down speed to move from one post to the other and stick out the left pad for the save.

Tesink got the Sea Dogs on the board at 11:28 with an unassisted marker, taking the turnover from Brennan, who was caught slightly out of position, and scored from a sharp angle.

Tesink brought the Sea Dogs even with his second in a 3:50 span on a great feed from Huberdeau. Only nine seconds into the Sea Dogs power play, Huberdeau found Tesink in the slot, where he snapped a shot past Brennan at 15:18 to tie the game 2-2. The goal gives Tesink the Sea Dogs team lead with his 13th of the year.

The Sea Dogs had their first advantage in shots in the third period as they outshot the Titan 9-7 in the first 12 minutes of the final frame. Despite the shots, Brennan stood tall, keeping the game tied.

Izacky took a sharp angle shot, was hit and knocked down, but not before he beat Brennan to make it 3-2 on the power play at 14:17. Jason Seed and Weckworth assisted on the play, giving Weckworth his first point in a Sea Dog uniform.

With the Bathurst net empty, Oliver Cooper made the Titan zone, and fed the puck to Devon Oliver-Dares who rang it off the post.

Tesink completed the hat-trick at 19:51 with an empty-net goal as Huberdeau notched his 143rd career assist on the play to tie the career all-time mark set by Kirkpatrick, icing the game for the Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs return home to take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Nov. 24 as the Team honours the Saint John Vito's and the 20th Anniversary of their Allan Cup win. Tickets are available at the Harbour Station box office, online at tickets.harbourstation.caor by calling 657-1234.